The Struggle for European Private Law

Preface and Acknowledgements vii
Prologue 1
I . An Argument 1
II . Structure 4

1 Code 7
I . Advent of the European Code Project (1989 to Today) 7
II . Portraying the European Code Project 9
III . Genealogy of the European Code-Text: Of Continuity and Discontinuity in European Legal Thought from Lando’s
Principles to the DCFR 10
A . The Great Convergence of Acquis Commun and Acquis Communautaire 15
B. Advent of the Principles 20
IV . F unction of the European Code-Text. The Return of Code-based Universalisation and Disciplining 26
A . The Proposed Code as a Device for Law’s Universalisation 26
B. The Proposed Code as a Device for Law’s Disciplining 28
V . O n the Need to Explore the Codification Phenomenon from the Perspective of the Wider Range of Jurisprudential Forces 36

2 Jurisprudence 42
I . Introduction 42
II . Development of a Pluralist Private Law out of Classical Jurisprudence 47
A . Turning Points in History: Politicisation Processes in the Twentieth Century 48
B. Into Politicisation I: Of Agency and Techniques (the Legislative Branch) 52
C. Into Politicisation II: Of Agency and Techniques (Jurisprudential Vocabularies) 60
III . Pluralism Beyond the State: The Development of a European Private Law Jurisprudence out of Domestic Structures 65
A . Constitutional Private Law I: ‘Low Intensity’ 69
B. Constitutional Private Law II: ‘High Intensity’ 72

3 Code vs Jurisprudence 78
I . Regimenting the Living Jurisprudence qua Europe’s Constitutional Pluralism 85
A . Mandatory Rules 87
B. Default Rules 95
C. Choice 98
D. Further Criticism Towards the Proposed Optional Code – The Code vs Parliaments 102
II . Synthesis of the Constitutional Critique 104
A . De-constitutionalising Private Law 105
B. Re-constitutionalising Private Law 107

4 Jurisprudence vs Jurisprudence 111
I . Introduction: The View from Jurisprudence 111
A . Code as Nomos: The Jurisprudential Movement behind Codification 118
B. Code as Thesis: The View from the Legislature 127
C. Code as Nomos-and-Thesis Phenomenon: Between Jurisprudence and Legislation 139
D. Divided Nomos: Jurisprudence versus Jurisprudence 148
II . Conclusion 153

Epilogue 154
I . Of Codification and Critique 154
II . Of Codification and its Poverty 159

Bibliography 167
Index 179